https://mafiainaustralia.wordpress.com/

[antimafia]

Back in 2010, felice, who has the same handle on the RealDeal, posted over there the following links to four volumes of the Operazione Il Crimine report about the anti-ndrangheta law-enforcement operation that culminated that year:

http://www.sosimpresa.it/userFiles/File ... nitivo.pdf

http://www.sosimpresa.it/userFiles/File ... nitivo.pdf

http://www.sosimpresa.it/userFiles/File ... nitivo.pdf

http://www.sosimpresa.it/userFiles/File ... nitivo.pdf

All the above PDFs are still available online. Volume 3 deals the most with Calabrian crime figures who live in Australia; the other three volumes have a few mentions of Australia.

The Tony Vallelonga previously mentioned in this thread by MickeyMeatballs is also mentioned in Volume 3. According to the 2010 report, Domenico Antonio Vallelonga was born in Nardodipace, in Vibo Valentia (VV), on November 28 1946. At the time of the report, he was said to be living in Gwelup (a suburb of Perth, which is the capital city of Western Australia). Please note that in this Volume 3, his surname appeared twice as "Vallalonga," which I'm sure was just a misspelling.

At some point, when I have more time, I hope to post in the "Cotroni Luppino" thread (http://www.theblackhand.club/forum/view ... =29&t=1148) about the little, older information that exists about ties between a handful of Calabrian-Canadian crime figures anda handful of Calabrian-Australian crime figures. There were ties that were also just blood ties.

[AustraliaSteve]

Fuck Yes. Thank you Antimafia, I believe these pdf's were posted a while back on RD, I have them on a flash drive somewhere but have been struggling to find them.

Would sincerely appreciate more information regardind the Canadaian/Australian connections, which I'm assuming would shed a bit more light on Australia's so called Siderno group. FWIW, some sources cite the Papalia clan as having been wiped out in Australia, with its female members marrying into other families such as the Trimboli and Perre.
Thanks again

[AustraliaSteve]

Sorry, read the post too fast. It was felice that posted them originally.

[AustraliaSteve]

Mechilino and Pasquale Cosimo, they are the respective brother and nephew of the guy Vallelonga had argued with regarding the formation of another cell in Perth. Tony in related to to one Gianni Vallelonga, who would seem to run a locale in Calabria. Links between Caulonia and Melbourne, with reference to another boss who is at first mistaken for Vellelonga, but is not.

Numerous references to the Crimine di Polsi, which I believe saw the 2010 meeting lead to the arrest of Domenico Oppedisano. Many tangential links between him and Vallelonga, and other Australian figures, including what seem to be a few non Italian associates based in Australia.

Thanks again Antimafia.

[AustraliaSteve]

This is frustrating, my translation differs this time from my memory, but I still believe I've gotten the most of the general gist again. These are the observations I have made and attempted to reconfirm;

1) Tony Vallelonga was actually quite busy during his 2009 trip to Calabria, and was plainly oblivious to the scope of these investigations when he issued his first flat-out denial of allegations, a statement he eventually amended to line up with the facts. There are a number of references in conversation to another Vallelonga, one that I believe resides in Italy. Commisso also mentions another 'illustrious' Australian friend, who is mistaken for Vallalonga until Commisso explains he's referring to another Australia who lives in Sydey that was in the country for meetings. Another predominant theme are the number of references to other meetings prior and present.

2)Vallelonga's complaints towards the potential rival named PINO, who would appear to be the SECOND Perth resident to be entertaining an autonomous cell.
[quote}346 said "Pino", born in Vibo Valentia March 16, 1964, resident in the hamlet Piscopio, Via Mesima 4,"[quote]
Vallelonga recounts denying PINO'S demands, which leaves;

3) A man identified as one COSIMO TRICHILO is named as the subject of the recorded laundromat conversation with COMMISSO. this is the man who first decided Perth could do with one more locali'. the guy who rebutted Vallelonga's authority by claiming responsibility direct to Siderno, who Vallelonga snapped back the "...as long I'm I'm alive, you'll never have/run a locali'....and that's that!"
So the report details two Perth instances Vallelonga finds to be subversive and an implied threat to his own authority (as Commisso mentions in the laundromat convo'"
So here's the interesting thing; there is a business man named Cosimo Trichilo who owns a popular Italian restaurant in Perth named the Al Fornetto. Now, this Trichilo is a clean skin with almost nothing available on him but an interview in a review and his Linked In profile. But some of the recording make mention of a prior meeting that had taken place in Australia with some Italian representatives attending. Where did this meeting take place? At Al Fornetto. For the record I do NOT accuse any improprieties or claim any evidence of criminal conduct.

4)I was interested to see just how regular Australia gets mentioned in phone transcripts, often just in passing but seemingly well on everyone's radar.

5)The activities of a Turin' based 'ndrine boss Giuseppe Catalano, who would go on to commit suicide shortly following the reports.

I'll post more as I go.

[AustraliaSteve]

Much maligned business man Antonio Madaferri is irked to have been again linked to the Calabrian Mafia in a series of investigative articles Fairfax Media has recently published. As far back as 93 claims were being aired in courts that alleged Madaferri to be a high-ranking member of a Melbourne based locali' . New reports have surfaced that claim Madaferri has taken a contract out on the life of the journalists who contributed to the investigation, in particular naming Nick McKenzies, the reporter who was contacted by Pat Barbaro trying to get him to publish a story about a drug seizure, which his Calabrian contacts would be able to read. He was also the target of an unsuccessful bid by Madaferri to force the journalist to reveal his sources.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/groce ... jpxrt.html

[AustraliaSteve]

Thumbing through an old confidential ASIO report from the '60's on "CAMORRA, BLACK HAND SOCIETY, MAFIA, MANO NERA" and discovered some interesting information on a guy I'd had down as an associate of a group of Black Handers operating in remote regions of Far North Queensland in the 20's and 30's.

I identified Giuseppe Mammone as an associate of Vincenzo D'Agostino, who led an early example of what has been revealed to be a Calabrian cell in Australia. Mammone was named in several reports as having himself written a number of Black Hand letters, and also in participation of violence, including slicing of the ears of a farmer who had been an intended victim (the guy later shot two members of the organization on a main street in full view of public). Mammone is one of a couple figures from Queensland who I can connect to Melbourne and Sydney activities in the early parts of the century. Mammone in particular seems to have participated in the murder of early Sydney boss Antonio Belle. After Belle's death, police found correspondence in his house that indicated his contact with Society members around Australia. In one, he angrily rebuts a suggestion that his power and influence in the Society is waning, insisting "I am native of Palmi, you know that does suffice".

Anyway, the report claims that Mammone had been previously sentenced to death in Eric County, New York on a murder charged that was eventually dropped to a lesser one, for which he served less than 5 years for. This happens before 1926, when he first comes to Australia. Interesting to note the links, a Calabrian criminal with charges in Italy, the US and Australia.

The report also details a 1959 meeting in Melbourne that ended up with 21 members being taken in to custody. I found in interesting that every single one of the arrested were found to be carrying a knife (and some with a pistol as well). The meeting is supposedly called to discuss the appropriate punishment for a member who failed to inform the cell's boss of an event (basically, it seems the guy being judged went to visit another member in prison, which meant that no one else could visit him as he'd used up his visitation quota, which pissed some guys off, apparently).

The meeting was able to be observed as a result of a confidential informant who was a member of the society and was "sick of it, and wanted to leave [the Society] but was unable too". Interestingly, the meeting was supposedly divided, with all younger members addressed separately to the older members. This would seem to indicate a ranking system in line with the "Boss, Captain, Soldier" pyramid mentioned in later reports. The report of the meeting also mentions a 19 year old whose primary job was running errands for one of the meetings organisers. His parents were very upset with him, because they were unaware that their son was a member of or even affiliated with the Society. I laughed, but this jumped out at me because every other suspect in the eventual case made a point of NOT belonging to the Society, if they even acknowledged its existence. But it seems like this particular guys family not only admitted to its presence, but also expressed anger and sadness that their son was involved with it. The Calabrian model in Australia follows very much upon direct blood lines and relations, and it would be interesting to discover if this far back they were recruiting from unconnected families. In so far as this guys family were noted in the file to have been unaware of his connection to a particular crime group they knew of and expressed disdain for. The fact that this small aside is even mentioned in the report in fascinating.

[Wiseguy]

Big article with lots of photos about the Ndrangheta families in Australia


How the Calabrian mafia came to Australia in the 1920s and brought murder and a billion dollar drug trade which is now controlled by 31 families across the nation

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... trade.html

[AustraliaSteve]

The article this links to is about a book named EVIL Life , a book on the Australian Mafia.

This is a great read and details the rise and establishment of the Griffith/NSW/Riverina Calabrian element, as well as detailing the cane-field days and more modern (eg: Pasquale Barbaro ecstasy scheme re: Calabria etc).

Having said that, there are some inaccuracies and even some misappropriated photos (one of them is the aftermath of the 1930's D'Agostino bombing, which I dug up from Trove, and I posted on GangstersInc, and have since seen published several times, WITH COURTESY TO GANGSTERS INC SMH)

They gloss over the so called "Siderno Grouop" to an extent, and focus primarily on the "Plati Group", ie: the entire Eastern Seaboard. There is not a lot on the connections between the Commisso's of Calabria vs the rest of the country, especially with how much came out in the Crimine documents. I've emailed the authors, but meh.

This is, however, a great book. I recommend it.

[AustraliaSteve]

Thought I had already posted this. Last month lawyer Joe Acquaro was murdered in Melbourne. Known as "Pino", his clients included Pat Barbaro and Frank Madafferri, the latter of which is suspected of ordering the hit. The article alleges that Acquaro had come into conflict over legal bills with Madafferri, and had ignored warnings from police that he was being targeted. Also that he was known as a big mouth who would refer to himself as "the consigliere".

The article also details several other historical murders. It's written by Tom Gilling, one of the co-authors of the book Evil Life, mentioned above.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/in ... 455138952d

[AustraliaSteve]

The following article was published shortly after Joe Acquaro was gunned down, and speaks of the Calabrian element involved in the importation of methylamphetamine. This is a relatively newer phenomenon, in so far as Australia's OMC's are the dominant players in Australia's meth trade. For decades, bikers have been cooking and distributing speed from backyard labs and copious amounts of tablets containing psuedo-ephedrine (as a young fucker, I used to be able to buy a box of 20 Demazin tablets for $20, which cooks would buy for $50. Rinse and repeat a few times etc.).

Actual crystal-rock has been a game-changer. Local cooks are less abundant, and more and more seizures came from South-East Asia into the new millennium, Europe to a lesser extent. This is one of only a handful of times I've seen the Calabrians said to be involved. While I believe it an overstatement to claim that MElbourne and Sydney 'ndrine "control the supply", they definitely have control of a slice of the market. Jo McKenna has written a bit on the subject, and I otherwise find her to be a solid journalist.

FWIW, the Seven Families she mentions Dr Sergi referring to in the article are: Barbaro, Sergi, Trimboli, Nirta, Romeo, Alvaro and Perre.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/from-arm ... nlwal.html

[AustraliaSteve]

Repost from the GBB (first post there in a while), Also wanted to share some old documents a d articles I've been meaning to post for a while.

Just a stub article, but refers to Calabrian involvement in the illicit tobacco trade. Federal taxes account for up to 50 to 80% of the cost of cigarettes here, and it's a massive source of revenue for the government. Hence the thriving trade in "home-grown" tobacco. Certain East Coast 'ndrine own and cultivate vast farmlands, where farmers used to grow "king-crop" weed plantations alongside their tomatoes (Tomatos?? Tomatoes??)

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinio ... a2d54e19b7

[AustraliaSteve]

A TIME article from 1964 details the lead up and power struggle referred to as the Market Murders. I've spaced the article. There are some minor mistakes on names, and IIRC, the Monaco murder was unrelated to the 'ndrangheta cells, as were a number of others. I'll attempt to dig up some info on that. Still a great article IMO, considering the times.

Omerta in the Antipodes
Friday, Jan. 31, 1964

Among the 2,020,000 European immigrants who have poured into postwar Australia, fully 260,000 have been Italians, mostly from Calabria and Sicily. The newcomers added much that is welcome Down Under, from pizza and pasta to espresso bars and truck gardens. But as Melbourne last week was shaken by the shotgun explosions of gang warfare, Australians became aware that the new Italian immigrants had also brought with them the blood feuds of the Mafia and Camorra, as well as the code of silence induced by omerta (death for informers).

Rear Window. At stake was the overlordship of Melbourne's bustling, 16-acre Victoria Market, beneath whose iron-roofed sheds are crowded the stalls of 800 produce growers and 200 agents. Work in the market starts at 2 a.m. as trucks roll in with produce from Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland, and the stalls fill with a babble of Mediterranean tongues—Italian, Greek, Yugoslav—as well as Australian-twanged English. Trading is almost entirely in cash, and an estimated $45 million worth of fruits and vegetables pass through Victoria Market every year.

The struggle for power began in December 1962, when Marketeer Domenico Italiano, 65, known as Il Papa, died peacefully in bed. One strong contender for the job of Mr. Big was eliminated four months later when Vincenzo Angilletta was ambushed outside his home and blasted to death by both barrels of a shotgun. Last November, Domenico Demarie, 41, got the same treatment, but he survived as a sick and frightened man who swears he has no idea who attacked him or why. Fortnight ago, Vincent Muratore, 43, rose before dawn to go to his wholesale produce stall at the market. He got as far as his car when someone fired through the rear window, killing him instantly. Two days later, Truck Gardener Antonio Monaco, 39, was gunned down outside his shack.

Dapper Throngs. Melbourne's Italian-language newspaper Il Globo accused Victoria Market racketeers of all the shootings and prophesied that "the next victims will be at Muratore's funeral." At St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Muratore's body, clad in a Capuchin's robes, lay in a $1,575 casket with silver fittings, surrounded by floral offerings. Throngs of dapper Italians wearing black ties, dark tight-fitting suits with tapered trousers, and black pointed shoes escorted their wives in deep mourning. In a building opposite, Melbourne police focused binoculars and telephoto cameras on the 200 cars that made up the funeral procession. The man who is said to be the next candidate for assassination is wealthy Wholesaler Frank Madafferi, who attended Il Papa's and Muratore's funerals. "Let them come and get me," snapped Madafferi, then added, true to the omerta code, "All I know about these accidents and the Mafia is what I read in the newspapers—and I can't either read or write."

[AustraliaSteve]

Dr Anna Sergi is a sociologist who has written about and extensiely investigated Calabrian criminals. This article theorises on the common perception that the Calabrian element arrived in Australia with the three men who arrived on the Re' De Italia in 1924. To her credit, she does make mention of some earlier activity, crude as it was. This treatise has been uploaded to academia.edu, so I'm assuming is open-source. I will remove it if is not. It's a twenty page article, so I wont post it, but it really details early migration patterns and familial connections around the world, as well as touching on Calabrians that rose to prominence in the USA, such as Frank Costello, etc. Scroll down to read it. The Australian related stuff starts on page five.

Someone please let me know if the link is bad or doesn't work.
http://www.academia.edu/8614295/The_evo ... erspective

EDIT: I accidentally a word. I don't grammar good.

[AustraliaSteve]

Hopefully not a repost...? Jo Mckenna has covered the Calabrians for some time. She mentions the Papalias in the article. Interestingly, in 2014 Domenico Papalia, 31, was jailed for 22 years for the murder of Edward Camilleri, 50. He killed the guy with a hammer. Even more interesting is a "purge" of sorts; three Papalias gunned down in 1989/1990. I'll post a bit on them next.

Mafia deeply entrenched in Australia
BY JO MCKENNA
Last updated 09:02 15/03/2010

Days after police smashed a multimillion-dollar drug ring with alleged mafia links in Sydney and Mildura, a new report by Italy's top anti-mafia investigators has named several Calabrian mafia clans that have created "permanent links" with key family members in Australia.

In its annual report for last year, the National Anti-Mafia Directorate said the Calabrian Mafia, also known as 'Ndrangheta, had been transformed from a localised criminal operation in the impoverished south of Italy into a vast and complex international enterprise that exploits "deeply rooted" links in Australia.

In the report, obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, the directorate names several powerful clans, including Sergi, Barbaro and Papalia, as groups that have "active affiliates" in Australia.

"The links with the mafia families are steadfast and deeply rooted in Australia where permanent traditional links with the Calabrian clans have been solidly established," the report says. "Clans like Sergi, Barbaro, Papalia have been active through their Australian affiliates for some time."

In August 2008 a Griffith man, Pasquale Barbaro, was arrested along with 19 others as part of the-then world's biggest ecstasy bust.

Police allege Mr Barbaro was the organiser of the drug operation in which drugs worth $440 million, hidden in tomato tins, were shipped from Italy to Melbourne.

Mr Barbaro is the son of Francesco ''Little Trees'' Barbaro, who was named in the Woodward Royal Commission as a member of the Griffith-based Calabrian group behind the disappearance of anti-drug campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977.

The commission also named Pasquale ''Pat'' Sergi, a Sydney property developer and charity director, as a money launderer for the drug boss Robert Trimbole.

Months before the Griffith arrests, the Italian Anti-Mafia Commission - a body comprised of members from both houses of parliament - told the Italian parliament that Australia was a key part of the worldwide Calabrian mafia network for drug trafficking.

The annual report by the National Anti-Mafia Directorate - an inter-agency organisation specialising in anti-Mafia investigations - says strong Australian links have been confirmed by recent investigations carried out by anti-Mafia prosecutors in two Calabrian cities, Catanzaro and Reggio Calabria.

A NSW detective, Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis, who led last week's raids in Sydney, said police investigations were continuing and he hoped they would lead to more arrests. He also wants to establish more direct links with law enforcement officials abroad.

The directorate's report reveals an enormous worldwide expansion of the Calabrian Mafia, which it says has become the European leader in trafficking cocaine through ports in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The organisation has an annual turnover of more than $70 billion, according to some estimates.

- Sydney Morning Herald